The world governing International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have started a series of tests to establish whether Semenya is eligible to run in female competition amid doubts over her sex.

 

But the father of 18-year-old Semenya, who won easily in the Olympiastadion in Berlin last night in 1min 55.45sec, has said that there is no doubt.

 

Jacob Semenya said: "She is my little girl.

 

"I raised her and I have never doubted her gender.

 

"She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times."

 

"For the first time South Africans have someone to be proud of and detractors are already shouting wolf.

 

"It is unfair.

 

"I wish they would leave my daughter alone."

 

The athlete's 80-year-old grandmother Maphuthi Sekgala claimed that Semenya had long been teased about her boyish looks and for being the only girl in her local football team.

 

She said: "[The controversy] doesn't bother me that much because I know she's a woman - I raised her myself.

 

"She called me after [the heats] and told me that they think she's a man.

 

"What can I do when they call her a man, when she's really not a man?

 

"It is God who made her look that way."

 

The IAAF asked the South African athletic federation to conduct the gender test after Semenya burst onto the scene by posting a world-leading time of 1:56.72 in the 800m at the African Junior Championships in Bambous, Mauritius, July 31.

 

Her previous best was 2:00.58.
 

The test, which takes weeks to complete, requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

 

Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene claimed Semenya is facing intense scrutiny because she is black.

 

He said: "It would not be like that if it were some young girl from Europe.

 

"If it was a white child, she would be sitting somewhere with a psychologist, but this is an African child."

The runner's coach Michael Seme laughed off the allegations, saying the athlete fielded constant questions about whether she was a boy from younger athletes when training.

 

He said: "Then she has to explain that she can't help the fact that her voice is so gruff and that she really is a girl.

 

"The remarkable thing is that Caster remains completely calm and never loses her dignity when she is questioned about her gender."

 

Semenya had been "crudely humiliated" a few times and the closest Seme said he had seen her to anger was earlier this year when some people wanted her barred from using the ladies restroom.

 

He said: "Then Caster said: 'Do you want me to pull down my pants that you can see.

 

"'Those same people came to her later and said they were extremely sorry."

 

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASOC) have also condemned the row over Semenya's gender.

 

Gideon Sam, the President of SASOC, said: "We condemn the way she was linked with such media speculation and allegation, especially on a day she ran in the final of her first major world event.

 

"What has made the performance so much more remarkable is that she had to deal with the distraction of media allegations around her gender on the day of the race.

 

"Caster has unbelievable talent and an athlete we earmarked for big things."